Portable apparatus for reclaiming metal scrap



Dec. 27, 1955 E. H. HECKETT PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR RECLAIMING METALSCRAP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 22, 1952 MT m EF- O Dec. 27, 1955 E.H. HECKETT 2,

PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR RECLAIMING METAL SCRAP Filed July 22, 1952 2Sheets-Sheet 2 FEZ &'\L g m "N E N I cu N INVENTOR 3' ERIC H. HECKETTATTORNEY Unite States PORTABLE APPARATUS FGR RECLAIMING METAL SCRAP EricH. Heckett, Valencia, Pa., assignor to Heckett Engineering, Inc.,Butler, Pa., a corporation of Ohio This invention relates to combinedportable apparatus for separating, cleaning, and classifying bulk wastematerials as derived from steel-making operations for the purpose ofrecovering therefrom bulk materials having an acceptable purity ofmetallic content for reuse in iron and steel furnaces. Such initial bulkmaterials, particularly as derived from the open hearth departments ofsteel mills and in the form of sweepings, general refuse, and granulousslag, are normally rich enough in metallic values to economicallywarrant the processing thereof for the purpose indicated, and methodsand plants for carrying out this processing, both on existing slag andrefuse dumps and in connection with current steel-making operations,have been devised and are in rather widespread use throughout the steelmaking industry. It is the primary object of the present invention toprovide an improved portable piece of equipment whereby the processingoperations indicated and particularly the conversion of the initial bulkmaterials into acceptable reusable form may be carried out withincreased efficiency and economy, it being widely recognized that theutility of the general processing mentioned is closely allied to anddependent on the cost of handling, separating, cleaning and classifyingthe initial bulk materials.

In furtherance of the above general object the present inventionprovides a unitary, compact, and portable piece of equipment which whilebeing capable of being moved and serviced by other essential powerequipment employed in the scrap recovery operations is operative toautomatically process large tonnages of initial bulk materials fed to itto simultaneously separate the initial bulk materials into two componentparts one of which has acceptable metallic purity, clean the particlesof such acceptable component and classify the cleaned particlesaccording to size whereby one final component is good material forcharging in a blast furnace, for example, while the other finalcomponent is valuable metal bearing scrap material for reuse in an openhearth furnace, for example. More specifically the invention providesimproved apparatus of the character indicated which is extremely ruggedand durable and in which the improved ability to continuously processedlarge tonnages of material results from an improved mechanicalarrangement of the cleaning and classifying structure of the assembly inrelation to the material handling and separating structure of theassembly.

A further object of the invention is the provision in portable apparatusof the kind described of an improved mechanical structure for cleaningand classifying the materials being handled and of an improved methodfor mounting and driving such cleaning and classifying structures.Another object of the invention is the provision in providing apparatusfor the purpose indicated of improved mechanical features for guidingthe materials being processed through the apparatus involved and toseparate discharge points whereby the assembled apparatus may beadjusted for continuous and substantially unattended operatet ation withmaximum utilization of the facilities included and with the substantialelimination of any tendency of the assembled apparatus to clog.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention Will becomeapparent upon consideration of the detailed specification and theaccompanying drawing wherein there is disclosed a preferred embodimentof the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a partial side elevation of portable assembled apparatusconstructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;and

Figures 2 and 3 are end elevation and plan views, respectively of theapparatus of Figure 1.

The assembled apparatus of the invention is carried on a heavy elongatedstructural-steel frame 10 which at one end is supported on a pair oflongitudinally extending but transversely spaced crawler-type ofsupports 11 and at its other end on a fifth wheel assembly 12. Wheelassembly 12 is, in turn, supported on a tongued truck 13 which also hasa pair of transversely spaced crawler-type of supports 14. To lower thecenter of gravity of the assembly and thereby reduce the overall heightof the same to facilitate loading, etc. the frame 10 is offsetvertically as shown in Figure 1 whereby the bulk of the apparatus ispositioned quite close to the ground or other supporting surface whilethe truck 13 is free to swivel in moving from one location to another.in normal usage the apparatus remains supported on the crawlers 11 and14 on a slag dump or other fill and is moved about as required at thescene of operations by a large crawler or caterpillar-type of tractor asused for bulldozing work, for example, in

reforming the dump from the waste materials which are rejected from theapparatus of the invention in the manner to be hereinafter more fullydescribed.

Rigidly mounted on the frame 10 in upstanding relation is a structuralsteel framework which supports, among other equipage, a magneticseparating roll 15 which is arranged to be driven at variable speed by adrive motor 16. The magnetic separating roll 15 is of more or lessconventional construction and as such has, in addition to the provisionof variable speed drive, means, not shown, for varying the intensity ofthe magnetic field applied to the materials passing over it whereby theintensity or degree of separation may be accurately controlled. The bulkmaterials to be separated are supplied to the roll 15 by a shaker-typeof conveyor 17 which is arranged to be oscillated by a magnetic type ofshaker 18 which, as shown, is rigidly connected to the end of conveyor17 opposite the discharge end thereof over the roll 15.

Supported on the said structural steel framework above the swivel truck13 and inclined downwardly toward the adjacent end of the assembledapparatus is a heavy steel grid 19, comprised of a plurality oflongitudinally disposed bars 22 and transversely disposed bars 22'; ontowhich the bulk materials to be fed to the apparatus of the invention aredeposited by such power equipment as clam-shell buckets, for example.Inclined front and rear hopper aprons 20 and 21, respectively, areprovided to deflect material toward the grid 19 and to cause the largersized pieces which are rejected by the grid to tumble free and clear ofthe apparatus. It should be understood that in normal practice thegreater portion of the material fed to the apparatus of the invention isgranulous open hearth slag and pulverulent sweepings and other debrisand as such will readily pass down through the mesh of the grid.However, the pieces of the initial bulk materials which are too large tobe handled by the apparatus will be rejected by the grid and will tumbledown off the apron 20 onto a pile, not shown, in which they may beremoved in part by a magnetic crane and in part by the bulldozer,

for example. The-materials which pass through the grid are collected ina hopper 23 the bottom wall of which is the belt 24 of an inclinedbelt-type of conveyor and, as shown in Figure 1, the upper end of suchbelt is entrained over a pulley 25 which is positioned above-thecharging end of the conveyor 17. The relative arrangement of the hopper23 and the inclined belt conveyor is such that the rate of feed of theconveyor'is properly limited to the capacity of a separating roll 15 andthe other subsequent components of the assembly,the hopper 23 serving asa-storage bin which may be drawn on intermediate the depositing of thematerials on the grid. The conveyor belt 2 5 is arranged to be driven bythe roll ZS-Which, in turn, is driven by a motor 26 throughaspeedreducer 27 and a chain or belt 28.

Centrally disposed and extending upwardly and-outward-1y of the end ofthe assembled apparatus opposite the grid 19 is a belt-type of conveyor29, the lower'inner end of which is positioned within the frame 10, asshown, and substantially vertically below the roll 25. Conveyor29-isforthe purpose of removing the waste tailings of the materialsprocessed and therefore is arranged to receive material from a chute 30which leads downwardly and outwardly from a hopper section 31 positionedbelow the outward portionof the magnetic separating roll 15.

Hopper section 32 which is separated from section 31 by means of adividing wall 33 is positioned directly below rolilS to receive magneticmaterials separated from the initial bulk materials by the roll 15 anddischarges into an inclined shaker conveyor 34 which is actuated by avibrating-motor 35.

Rotatably supported on the frame 10 for rotation about an inclined axisextending longitudinally of the assembled apparatus is a tumbler drum 36having two longitudinally spaced screened side walls 37 and 38, thefirst of which is of finer mesh and is located adjacent the charging endofthe tumbler drum. Drum 36 is open at each end and as' shown in Figurel the conveyor 34 projects into the open upper charging end thereof,which is provided with an .imperforate side wall portion. As themagnetic materials fed by the conveyor 34 are deposited in the drum thesame are tumbled about initially in the imperforate side wallportion todislodge slag particles, dust, and other fines from the larger sizedmetal pieces and these as well as the initially separated magnetic fineswill pass through the open mesh 37 into a collector 39 and thence into ahopper 40 for transfer onto the lower end of conveyor 29. Thethuscleaned and graded magnetic material then passes by gravity into thatportion of the drum 36 which is enclosed by the wide mesh side wall 38and thesmallersized component thereof passes out through the mesh 38into a hopper 41 for discharge onto a conveyor 42 which extends upwardlyand outwardly of one side of the assembled apparatus. The largest sizedcomponent of magnetic materials passes out of the lower discharge end ofthe drum 36 into a hopper 43 for discharge onto a conveyor 44 whichextends upwardly and outward ly of the. other side of the assembledapparatus. Positioned below the conveyor 24 and longitudinally spacedfrom the discharge end of the drum 36 is an enclosure 45: whichconveniently houses an engine-driven generator, not shown, forfurnishing electrical energy to the magnetic separator 15, the vibratingmotors 18 and 3S, and the various conveyor driving motors, and in actualpractice I provide means for varying the strength of current furnishedthe magnetic separator, while the various motors are of thevariablespeed type so that the complete assembled apparatus may beoperated continuously in a substantially automatic manner without dangerof clogging.

In accordance with preferred slag reclaiming practices the reusablereclaimed magnetic material is classifiedinto two'types, name y, thatwhich is suitable for charging into an open hearth furnace and thatwhich is not suitable for charging into an open hearth but which issuitable for charging into a blast furnace. Material not suitable foreither-application is classified as refuse and discarded.

In the illustrated processing installation the dust, etc. and theextremely fine metallic particles which pass through the fine mesh 37 ofthe tumbler drum 36 are classified as refuse and are discharged onto theconveyor 29 along with the larger relatively non-magnetic particlespreviously discharged by the magnetic drum 15. Subsequently, this refusematerial is carried away and dumped or is spread about the slag dumparea by a bulldozer, not shown.

Particles of intermediate size, for example, particles too large to passthrough the fine mesh 37, but small enough to pass through the coarsermesh 38 are suitable for recharging into a blast furnace and areaccordingly collected and saved. Usually it is desirable to position atruck or detachable trailer, not shown, at the discharge end of conveyor42 to receive and collect the material for subsequent transportation toa steel making plant.

Intermediate sized particles of the type mentioned above usually rangein size from one half to three to four inches in principal dimension,and as will be understood it is difiicult to completely remove all slagencrustations from such particles. Therefore, these particles, commonlytermed fines are generally not suitable for reuse in open hearthfurnaces. Small amounts of slag are not objectionable for blast furnaceuse; however, the fines are accordingly used for that purpose.

in some applications, slag conditions may be such that appreciablequantities of free slag particles pass through the coarse mesh 38 alongwith the magnetic fines. In the event that the slag content of themixture becomes objectionably high it may be desirable to provideadditional apparatus for magnetically separating the mixture into itsmagnetic and non-magnetic components prior to transporting the same tothe blast furnaces for charging.

iarticies which are too large to pass through the mesh 38 are dischargedat and removed from the open lower end of the tumbler drum 36, and asthese particles are relatively heavy and have been subjected tosubstantial impact treatment within the drum 36, the same aresubstantially free of all slag, or are at least of such a highproportion of free metal as to render this material suitable forcharging directly into an open hearth furnace. Provisions for collectionand removal of the open hearth material may comprise trucks ordetachable trailers as will be understood.

If desired, the reclaimed material may be allowed to pile on the groundand may be subsequently loaded for transportation to the steel makingplant by means of the same crane apparatus, not shown, used forinitially loading the bulk slag material into the separating plant.

My apparatus is particularly valuable and advantageous in connectionwith the treatment of slag formed in current steel making operations inthat the apparatus is portable and may be readily moved from place toplace, and in that it may be accurately geared to the rate of productionof slag so that maximum efiiciency may be realized in .the overalloperation. Thus, in the preferred reclamation program it is usuallydesirable to provide several dumping pits for the molten slag whereby atany particular time one pit may used to receive molten slag, whileanother pit may contain slag during cooling thercof to workabletemperatures, while still another pit contains cooled and solidifiedslag suitable for processing in apparatus of the type herein described.It is of course desirable to work these pits in rotation so that theoverall operation isa substantially continuous one, and hence it isparticularly important that the slag processing apparatus be portable tothe extent that it may be readily moved from one pit to the other. By mypresent invention I provide a self-contained separating and treatingplant which is adapted for. continuous operation, and which may bereadily moved from place to place in accordance with the schedule ofdumping, cooling and working of the current slag in the various pitsprovided therefor about the slag dump area.

The apparatus may be ideally integrated into heretofore accepted andapproved slag reclamation programs since it may be serviced and attendedby a crane and bulldozer, both of which machines are required for otherpurposes in the program.

Further advantages of the invention reside in improved structuralarrangements of the slag treating apparatus which provide for efficiencyin the flow of materials and compactness in the arrangement ofcomponents, all of which features are highly desirable in aninstallation of the type concerned. By positioning the cleaning andclassifying drum 36 below the inclined conveyor 24 and by inclining thesame in the same direction as the conveyor a compact low assembly isachieve-d which is not only adaptable for transport over rough terrain,but which when in operation performs in an automatic manner the multiplefunctions of separating out the metallic bearing materials, cleaningsuch materials, and classifying the same according to size. Thus, theimproved apparatus of the invention makes possible, in a practicalsense, the processing of large tonnages of granulous slag and refusematerial heretofore considered waste with the desirable end result ofconserving the metallic values therein.

It will be understood, however, that the apparatus describedspecifically herein is but a preferred embodiment of my invention. Indetermining the full scope of the invention, reference should be had tothe claim appended below.

I claim:

Portable apparatus for recovering steel scrap and metal-bearing finesfrom steel-making furnace slag comprising an elongated base structuresupported at one end on a transversely spaced pair of crawler tracks,the other end of said base structure being offset in a verticaldirection, a crawler-type of swivel truck under said offset end portionof the base, an upright framestructure on said other end portion of saidbase, a grid supported on the upper portion of said frame structurevertically above said swivel truck and in inclined position slopingdownward toward the adjacent end of said base, a sec ond upright framestructure on the remaining portion of said base, a continuous inclinedconveyor supported at its upper end on said second upright structure andat its lower end in said first upright frame structure, a hopper belowsaid grid to discharge material flowing therethrough onto said conveyor,said conveyor being inclined similarly to said grid, an elongatedtumbler barrel the outer cylinder of which is formed with a pair oflongitudinally spaced sections having different sizes of aperturestherein, means rotatably supporting said tumbler barrel on said basestructure underneath the upper end portion of said conveyor and inclinedin the same general direction as said conveyor whereby said apparatus iscompact with the upper extremity of said conveyor being of minimumelevation, a magnetic drum rotatably supported on said second uprightframe structure longitudinally outward of the discharge end of saidconveyor and the charging end of said drum, a continuous conveyorextending upwardly and longitudinally outward from a position below thefirst of said of said sections which is adjacent the charging end ofsaid drum to receive the screenings therefrom and the non-magneticcomponents from said drum, and a feeding trough extending longitudinallyinto the charging end of said barrel to charge the magnetic componentsseparated out by said drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,250,554 Bryan Dec. 18, 1917 1,958,351 Shingshang May 8, 1934 2,264,204Heckett NOV. 25, 194i 2,276,333 Ovestrud Mar. 17, 1942 2,352,712 HeckettJuly 4, 1944 2,366,222 Tocci-Guilbert Jan. 2, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS600,395 Germany July 21, 1934

